Thursday 27 July 2006
Thistle 0 - 0 Morton
Thistle and Morton fought out an uninspiring goalless draw in tonight’s lacklustre friendly at Firhill. The game improved after a dreadful first half but apart from a Donnelly effort off the bar and a late Tuffey save to deny Stevenson, this was a match to forget.
The introduction of Jonny Tuffey in place of Arthur was the only change to the side that lined-up against St Mirren two days ago, but the difference in the performance was like night and day. The first half in particular was scrappy and uneventful, with chances at a premium.
Jimmy Gibson fired a half-volley narrowly wide of McGurn’s left hand post inside the first ten minutes and then we had to wait a further 20 minutes for another decent attempt on goal. That came from a Simon Donnelly free kick that curled just over the bar.
Morton were passing the ball about quite well at times, but the only real chance they had in the first half came after 35 minutes when Lilley headed a McLaughlin cross just over the bar. Five minutes later Donnelly slid the ball wide to McConalogue, but his low shot was comfortably dealt with by the keeper, and soon after the referee thankfully blew for half-time.
Things had to improve after the interval, and thankfully they did, well at least until the usual plethora of substitutions. The Jags almost got the half off to the perfect start when good play by Billy Gibson presented Simon Donnelly with a great chance to open the scoring, but his shot crashed back off the crossbar.
At the other end only an excellent saving tackle by Darren Brady denied on loan Celtic youngster Paul McGowan the chance to knock the ball home when a goal looked odds on. McGowan was involved again in Morton’s next attack, this time combining with Walker to set up an offside looking Lilley, but the striker failed to hit the target.
The visitor’s then spurned their best chance of the game when Keenan charged down McCulloch’s clearance and the ball broke kindly allowing him to run through on goal, but with only Tuffey to beat, he wildly blasted the ball wide. At the other end McGurn had to be alert to tip a deflected shot from Billy Gibson over the bar in the 57th minute and he was called into action again when Roberts stole into head Gibson’s cross towards goal.
Jags keeper Tuffey wasn’t really tested until the closing 20 minutes of the game when he twice made good saves to keep the scoreline blank. Firstly he got down well to collect Greacen’s low drive from the edge of the box, and just a few minutes later after Morton subs Templeman and Stevenson combined, he did well to block Stevenson’s shot at his near post.
The introduction of Stevenson made a difference for Morton, but apart from a couple of shots knocked over the bar by McAlistair, that was that in terms of chances. None of the Thistle subs could make much of an impression on the game, and the final whistle was greeted with relief more than anything else.
Having started with a couple of youngsters in their line-up, Morton will be pleased with their overall performance - and in McGowan and Stevenson, have two players who could prove to be difference for them this season. Thistle have their own possible match winner in Simon Donnelly, and he again showed his class tonight, sadly he outshone his team-mates by a long way. Best just to put this down as another step on the road to match-fitness and leave it at that….
STATS
Scorers: None
Teams:
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